Prevention of myopia for children — these are measures that all parents need to know about, regardless of whether the child has vision problems. This is due to the fact that more and more people in the world are forced to wear glasses and lenses for vision correction. Statistics say: every third person on the planet suffers from myopia. If treatment is not started on time, it threatens not only with a deterioration in the quality of life, but also with disability.
Modern children are especially at risk of earning myopia. Therefore, parents should take care of hygiene of the child's vision even from early preschool age.
- Visual hygiene: prevention of myopia in children
- How to Treat Myopia in Children
- How to protect your child from myopia
- Reminder on how to prevent myopia in children
Visual hygiene: prevention of myopia in children
Myopia (myopia) — one of the most common childhood diseases. Most often detected in children of middle school age. However, cases of deterioration of vision have also become common among preschoolers who experience severe stress on vision.
Myopia — This is a visual impairment (defect) in which a person sees objects well near, but blurry at a far distance. Requires mandatory correction, without which it will progress and cause complications.
Myopia refers to those diseases that cannot be cured. It is possible to correct and stop the deterioration, but it will not be possible to restore vision. Therefore, it is important not only to regularly check children's vision, but also to know what causes myopia.
Read also: 8 interesting facts about human vision
Causes of myopia in children:
-
Hereditary predisposition. If mom and dad have poor eyesight, then the risk of myopia in child reaches 50%. Such children should not miss visits to the ophthalmologist and carefully prevent myopia.
-
Lifestyle. This includes low physical activity and large visual activities near (reading, computer, working with small objects).
-
Some diseases increase the risk of myopia: head or spinal injuries, poor posture, thyroid problems, and childhood infections.
-
In preschoolers, one of risk factors was early development. In toddlers, the eyesight has not yet adapted to work at close distances. Therefore, early learning to read, write, work at the table with small objects (with excessive enthusiasm) leads to the fact that the child begins to see worse.
How to treat myopia in children
Unfortunately, changes in the eyeball are irreversible. It is no longer possible to completely cure myopia, but correction methods help to avoid more serious vision problems.
In order for myopia not to progress, the child is prescribed glasses or contact lenses. Depending on the degree of the disease, they may be prescribed to be worn constantly or only while reading and working at computer. Doctors may also recommend eye gymnastics, but it will not correct serious visual defects.
Read also: All that is good for the eyes: how to prevent visual impairment
Depending on the degree of violation and complications, they also prescribe:
-
medication (eye drops, vitamins, vasodilators);
-
scleroplasty — surgical treatment of myopia. Indicated for high degree of myopia or its progressive form;
-
physiotherapy — massage, laser therapy, electrophoresis, etc.
The visual apparatus of children is constantly developing, therefore laser vision correction is not prescribed for children under 18-20 years. Sometimes it can be performed for diseases such as anisometropia, strabismus, amblyopia.
How to protect your child from myopia
Prevention of myopia in children is needed both by those who see well and those who already wear glasses. Moreover, it is necessary to adhere to these rules not only from the beginning of school life, but from the very birth. Then the child will be more likely to maintain good vision, or at least reduce the hereditary factor.
Prevention measures:
-
From the day of birth the baby's room should be sufficiently bright and well lit.
-
Books for little ones should be of high quality: with large type and clear pictures.
-
In the first year of a child's lifeyou must visit an ophthalmologist at 3, 6 and 12 months.
-
Complete nutrition plays a big role for a growing organism, including for the prevention of myopia in children. Vitamins A, B, C, lutein, carotene, calcium are essential for eye health. Therefore, dairy products, apples, citrus fruits, blueberries, blackcurrants, cranberries, pork liver, eggs, butter, fish, vegetables, greens must be present in the children's diet.
-
Children under three years old should limit time near screens to minimum (there are recommendations to completely exclude TV and gadgets up to 3 years), after 3 years the allowable rate — 30 minutes a day, for schoolchildren — 1.5 hours.
-
At any agethe child should move a lot and spend time in fresh air. Walking and active play outdoors can reduce the risk of developing myopia and may stop its progression. This is due to the favorable effect of daylight on the eyes and the ability to look into the distance, and not just in front of you.
-
Protect your eyes from ultraviolet light.Direct sunlight contributes to the development of myopia, so children should wear sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats to protect from the sun.
-
Child's table should be at window, light should fall from the right side, in in the evening it is necessary to turn on additional lighting — table lamps 60-100 W. Furniture must be appropriate for the height of the child.
-
When performing any work at table, it is necessary to teach the child to keep his back straight. The distance from the eyes to the table is equal to the length from the child elbow to his hand.
-
Avoid excessive eye strain. The closer the notebook, book, small objects, the more the eyes strain to focus. The optimal distance is 30 cm. When reading, doing homework, watching cartoons, you need to take 10-minute breaks every 30-40 minutes.
-
Don't read while lying down and when traveling in vehicles, as this leads to overwork of the eyes.
-
To prevent myopia, doctors recommend running, swimming, cycling, tennis. These sports help to train the eye muscles.
-
A simple exercise for the eyes will also be useful. Just a few minutes a day will help relieve eye strain and exercise your muscles.
Read also: Reminder on how to prevent myopia in children Most often, myopia in children develops with the beginning of school life. At this time, learning loads increase, so it is very important for children to correctly allocate time between lessons and rest and provide them active leisure time. To preserve vision, it is worth paying special attention to:
sports and daily walks outdoors;
-
good workplace lighting;
-
monitor the amount of visual load and take timely breaks for rest.
-
Read also:
How to recognize vision problems in children?
Add a comment